Power and Beauty
Yesterday, while Beatrix was at a Girl Scout event, Patrick and I went over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (I just can't call it "Mia") to finally get a chance to see Power and Beauty, the Robert Wilson installation.
I'll forgo a description of the exhibit (though I do have some photos below), because I think you should see it yourself (It runs through May), and because I feel like everyone's reaction to the show will be very personal. I have friends who have loved it, and others who are meh on it. (I'm in the former camp, by the way).
But a couple of major points came to mind:
The sheer power of theatre, even when it has no live performance element. Wilson's installation is brilliant at evoking emotion, and of using multiple senses; each room is trickily visual, but with an aural element (that overlaps room to room). A room displaying robes is wrapped in dried grasses, so there's a particular smell to it; another room evokes a sense of a cave, especially by the texture underfoot.
I'm incredibly impressed by Kaywin Feldman's oversight. In the ten years that Feldman has been the director of the Institute, I've been incredibly impressed by what she's done there. I have no idea what artists think of working with her, but as a museum visitor, I've been very impressed. This exhibit, which is masterful at taking things that the museum already possesses and viewing them in new and different ways, is an excellent example of that kind of innovation. (also, she's my age but far more impressive, sigh...)
I'm hoping to go again and take Beatrix, let me know if you want to join us!
I'll forgo a description of the exhibit (though I do have some photos below), because I think you should see it yourself (It runs through May), and because I feel like everyone's reaction to the show will be very personal. I have friends who have loved it, and others who are meh on it. (I'm in the former camp, by the way).
But a couple of major points came to mind:
The sheer power of theatre, even when it has no live performance element. Wilson's installation is brilliant at evoking emotion, and of using multiple senses; each room is trickily visual, but with an aural element (that overlaps room to room). A room displaying robes is wrapped in dried grasses, so there's a particular smell to it; another room evokes a sense of a cave, especially by the texture underfoot.
I'm incredibly impressed by Kaywin Feldman's oversight. In the ten years that Feldman has been the director of the Institute, I've been incredibly impressed by what she's done there. I have no idea what artists think of working with her, but as a museum visitor, I've been very impressed. This exhibit, which is masterful at taking things that the museum already possesses and viewing them in new and different ways, is an excellent example of that kind of innovation. (also, she's my age but far more impressive, sigh...)
I'm hoping to go again and take Beatrix, let me know if you want to join us!
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